You may already have heard what the First Lady had to say when speaking with David Letterman (David Letterman?) the other night about raising kids in the White House:

“For us, it’s the values. The thing that we try to do is make sure — the residence is on the second and the third floor of the White House. And what we want to have happen is when they get off that elevator and walk in to our residence that it feels like the south side of Chicago, the same values, the same rules, the same sense of responsibility…”

She may want to re-think the import of those “south side values,” given what’s going on back home these days:

“Chicago’s police superintendent says the city is re-tooling its anti-gang strategy, following a particularly violent weekend during which several people, including a 6-year-old girl, were killed.”

“The majority of shootings in the city between Friday evening and early Monday morning happened on the city’s South Side, but areas from West Rogers Park to Humboldt Park also saw gun violence. The youngest victim was a 6-year-old girl, who was likely the innocent victim of gang violence in the Little Village neighborhood.”

Based on a quick search of “chicago south side violence”, I really don’t want South Side values being instilled in the White House. Do you?

Not sure what Operation Fast & Furious is all about? You’re not alone, as most of the mainstream media still are not covering this travesty. But the Washington Post has done a stellar job of boiling it down to its essential pieces, complete with quotes from those involved. Kudos to Sari Horwitz and Laura Stanton for their great work:

This could be President Obama’s Watergate. Until the wheels really start coming off the wagon, however, perhaps he should party like it’s 1973…

That’s my prediction based on the fact that Rep. Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, has sent a letter to President Obama, requesting that Obama appoint a special prosecutor to investigate AG Holder for perjury in the Fast & Furious inquiry. Apparently Mr. Holder swore that he had only heard of the project “a few weeks” prior to his testimony before the House Committee:

“I’m not sure of the exact date, but I probably heard about Fast and Furious for the first time over the last few weeks,” Holder testified.

This is directly at odds with new memos that have been uncovered which state that Mr. Holder was briefed regularly about the program, beginning in July of 2010 at the latest. Hence, the request for a special prosecutor.

Of course, the President can refuse to appoint a prosecutor. And I believe he will do just that. Instead, he will request Holder’s resignation and give a press release, sternly worded about unwarranted witch-hunts, and more in sorrow than in anger that he must send his loyal consigliere packing, simply because he mis-remembered a date (or, as Holder’s minions are claiming, Holder simply misunderstood the question. Right.) Obama will do this, hoping that it’ll suffice to put Congress off the track of more investigations: “Geez, guys, I fired him! What more do you want?!”

Well, actually, we want the truth. All of it. Who knew what, when. Whose idea was it? Who approved it. Hundreds of people are dead because of this bone-headed project, and who knows how many more will die, all because several Cabinet departments colluded to send guns south across the border to arm Mexican drug cartels in an apparent attempt to bolster the number of illegal guns going to Mexico so that the President could pressure Congress to enact even more gun restriction laws.

If the Attorney General of the United States knew about the program, he’s guilty of perjury at the very least. And if he didn’t know, he’s not doing his job. Either way, I think Obama will throw him under the bus, if only to try to distract Reps. Smith and Issa from the trail.

People died — Mexicans and Americans – because of this program (and possibly others like it). We need to know who was behind it, and prosecute the guilty. I believe this includes Eric Holder.

Oh yes, please, let’s adopt legislation outlawing the use of bullseyes on maps. And while we’re at it, let’s tone down the inflammatory rhetoric, shall we? Because that will help bring us all back to a golden time when discourse, even political discourse, was civil and dignified. Right?

So say goodbye to terms like riding shotgun, bullet points, killer apps, not by a long shot, whipping into shape, battleground states, targeting your opponent, in the crosshairs, death panels, campaign strategy, and whatever else you can imagine as potentially deadly invective which would contribute to a climate of hate.

Don’t you see? The world will be safer if we all if all you wingnut redneck gun-totin’ Bible-clingin’ inbred hillbilly stump-jumpers would just tone it down a bit.

Of course, the problem with that attitude is that our discourse has never been terribly civil, or for that matter, free from bluster, ferocity, and vehemence. As far back as the founding of our nation, Thomas Jefferson famously wrote: “The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants.” (And notice which group’s blood is mentioned first.)

Even today on shows as innocuous as the morning show “Fox and Friends”, NJ Governor Chris Christie was introduced in a segment with phrases like, “leading the charge” and “slash[ing] state budgets”.

Face it; our language–any language–is rife with turbulence. And because politics is so very personal, our political discourse is littered with fightin’ words, military metaphors, and just plain old violence. A quick look at a history of presidential campaign slogans (see? military term!) gives us the following:

54″ 40″ or Fight

We Polked you in ’44, We shall Pierce you in ’52

Vote as You Shot

Tilden or Blood!

Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

Sunflowers die in November

Give ‘Em Hell, Harry

The world has, and probably always will have its share of crazy people and evil people; people who don’t require a reason to harm or maim or murder; and who aren’t set off by rhetoric of any kind. Like Jared Loughner, who as Ace at AOSHQ says:

“…The only thing I can rule out is that a “climate of hate” caused this– because I know for a fact, based on his writings and testimony of those who knew him, that he was not animated by right-wing politics at all…”

The violence inherent in language is part of life, and each of us learns how to deal with it in our own way. The very vast majority of us do just fine. That almost vanishingly small percentage who are truly evil or are hopelessly mentally ill are not swayed one way or the other by the language used around them. They are what they are, and society deals with them as best it can.

So don’t tell me what I can or can’t say, either in political discourse or in any conversation.

I’ve never wanted to own a gun. In fact, in my former days as a liberal, I was one of those singing the mantra of gun control. Even as I morphed into a conservative adult, I still felt that there was no need for me to own a gun, but believed that was the right of all law-abiding citizens to keep and/or bear arms, should they choose to do so.

Saturday night, however, that all changed for me.

My dog and I became the targets for a drive-by shooting. Cooper and I were walking in a well-lit downtown area of the peaceful, waterfront village known (ironically) as Safety Harbor. We were next door to the renown “Safety Harbor Spa” which caters to the wealthy folks and wealthier corporations which love to spend lavishly on “conferences”. Oprah Winfrey is rumored to visit there yearly. In other words, this was not a bad neighborhood where drive-by shootings happen.

Well, well, well! The race for Massachusetts’ 6th district just got really interesting (as Da Tech Guy reported last night). It seems that Republican contender Bill Hudak might get within striking distance of incumbent John Tierney some time soon. Tierney’s numbers aren’t all that good to at this point anyway (below 50% ), and the thing that could signal a real run-up for Hudak before the election is this, as reported by the Boston Globe:

The wife of US Representative John F. Tierney is poised to plead guilty today to federal tax charges for managing a bank account that her brother allegedly used to deposit millions of dollars in illegal gambling profits raked in from an offshore sports betting operation in Antigua.

Patrice Tierney, 59, is charged with four counts of aiding and abetting the filing of false tax returns by her brother, Robert Eremian of St. John’s, Antigua…

From 2003 through 2009, prosecutors allege, [Mrs. Tierney’s brother] funneled more than $7 million in illegal gambling proceeds into the account managed by his sister, while passing himself off as a consultant for Sports Offshore rather than its owner. He allegedly transferred funds from a shell company, Benevolence Funding Ltd., into the Massachusetts account.

Of course Big Brother’s not really mad at Mrs. Tierney for dabbling in illegal offshore gambling… They’re just pissed it’s being done where they can’t get their cut.

So Mr. Hudak, who is by all accounts an engaging candidate with a bright future, could end up out in front by November, especially if Tierney keeps dodging requests for debates, as he has so far.

In other Massachusetts news, perhaps you thought the Beer Summit of 2009 and all its attendant brouhaha had finally faded out of public consciousness. I’m sorry to have to tell you that it was way too much to hope for, over in the People’s Republic of Cambridge. The town spent upwards of $100,000 to commission an independent report on the incident that lead to a prominent black Harvard professor’s being arrested briefly for attempting to break into his own home and then being disorderly and un-cooperative to the police who responded to a 911 call.

In a famous attempt to diffuse the local situation, President Obama weighed in by saying that while he had no details about the circumstances of the event, the police acted stupidly.

Now that the commissioned report is out (it actually came out in June, but the City Council finally got around to reading it), it’s time for more outrage! While the report mentioned missed opportunities to “de-escalate the tension” and ascribes blame to both the professor and the police, City Council members are not amused.

The public wants to know that if we’re decent, law-abiding people, we’re not going to end up in handcuffs and in jail,’’ said [Councilmember] Reeves, who called Gates “a dear friend.’’

…Reeves also criticized the two black members of the review committee for not pushing for a discussion about race and First Amendment rights in the report.

“I don’t know how they could discuss this incident and not mention race,’’ Reeves said in an interview afterward.

Blech. I’m with Morgan Freeman, who so famously said, “The only way to end racism is to stop talking about it.”